00000cab a22000004cb4500 IPP-00000116081 IPP 20200702040650.0 200702s2014 xx d | ||r |||||eng|| eng Tolentino, Roy Allan B. Good soil Bernanos and Kierkegaard on overcoming despair 2014 In The Christian and Anxiety, Hans Urs von Balthasar praises Søren Kierkegaard’s description of anxiety while criticizing the Danish thinker for remaining under the influence of German Idealism. For Balthasar, the lacuna found in Kierkegaard’s philosophy of anxiety can be addressed by turning to literature; for example, the work of French novelist Georges Bernanos. This paper proposes that contrary to Balthasar’s critique, there is much overlap between the work of Kierkegaard and Bernanos, particularly in examining the human experience of overcoming despair. By reading Bernanos’s The Diary of a Country Priest alongside Kierkegaard’s The Sickness Unto Death, this paper will show similar movements in both authors’ accounts of Christian life. Despair Budhi: a Journal of Ideas and Culture Vol. 18, no. 3 (Dec. 2014), 50-74 UPD DMLP Article FI